Peony For Your Thoughts

I first spoke with Anna in November 2014 when I got engaged in Miami. We moved back to the bay area in February, met with Anna in March and hired her for month of coordination, design and a few other items for our September wedding.
Anna is really enthusiastic and seemed like she was starting out and was eager to make sure our wedding was exactly what we wanted. This is why we hired her. We went above our allocated budget to make that happen.
Within a few months it became clear to me that she was inexperienced and probably needed more hand holding than I anticipated. Instead of being a source of confidence, I had many sleepless nights thinking the day of was going to be a mess.
NOTE: I had 3 other events that Anna was NOT involved with which went seamlessly, one of the events was the night before with more people than the wedding.
Fast forward to September, I know many people say «things will go wrong, you cant control it», agreed but the number of things that went wrong was unacceptable.
Here’s a quick shortlist:
— Leading up to the wedding she didn’t read the contracts which came back to me time and again with the wrong dates, names etc.
— She owned the design part of the wedding, the one thing I really wanted and trusted she had a grasp on was missing in my center pieces, she met with the florist multiple times and still missed this.
— The bus driver bringing our guests to the venue got lost, he didn’t have her number, my husbands father called my husband to get directions.
— The photographer showed up too late based on Annas day of time line so missed getting me dressed or my husband getting dressed.
— The entire timeline ran an hour behind and we ended up not walking to thank our guests or get pictures with them.
— When the time went over, I the bride was running around asking vendors to stay an extra hour while Anna was nowhere to be found
— Two of our family members had no place to sit at dinner because she messed up the seating chart
— Multiple items I had bought for the wedding were not displayed, she out right forgot about them.
— The giveaway jams my mom home made were left outside so more than half the people left without getting them.
And this is just the big stuff.
Leading up to the wedding I consistently gave her feedback on not being happy with her level of service, she chalked it up to «you are a very different bride, I’ve never worked with anyone like this.» i. e I am a project manager and super organized, I had a master google doc to plan the wedding.
All in all lets just say the way I feel about it is my wedding was beautiful in spite of Anna. I had my 3 sisters who jumped in and helped out and got things rolling while Anna looked like this was the first time she had planned an event let alone a wedding. Her assistant was much more competent.
Again, shes really sweet and enthusiastic but she needs to get proper training on how to plan events. Her level of professionalism is minimal at best and the level of service is pretty bad, with training under a seasoned event planner maybe she’ll improve.
I would not recommend you hire her unless you want to spend the months leading up to your wedding and the day of panicking because your planner is inexperienced.

We hired Anna as the day-​of coordinator for our wedding. She was such an incredible support throughout the whole process. She was very fair on pricing and went above and beyond what we imagined we would receive from a day-​of coordinator. She checked in with us regularly, always made the time to meet or call. She is also very attentive to details and highly prepared. She seemed to have a lot of experience working weddings and knowing how to prepare for most everything. Anna introduced us to our florist, who was phenomenal. She also connected us to our lighting guy and even negotiated for us since she had an existing relationship. She definitely brought quality people to the table, including her assistant for the day-​of. Two weeks leading up to the wedding, she took care of all the contact with our vendors, which was such a huge relief. Overall, Anna was very easy to work with and managed all our specific needs with comfort and ease, even those last minute things. She brought creativity and joy to the process of planning. We honestly could not have successfully pulled off our wedding without her! I would highly recommend her to anyone.

I had the pleasure of meeting Anna through a friend who attended a wedding she coordinated. At first impression, she was very friendly and extremely knowledgeable about venues. We hit it off right away and I decided to take a chance with her. Today I remain fortunate for her help on planning my wedding; she kept things under control while my husband and I enjoyed our day with family and friends.
Anna was meticulous along every step of the planning. With her professionalism and resources in the industry, I was able to stay within my budget and looked forward to every meeting she coordinated to help keep us on track. I had trouble figuring out exactly what I wanted for my wedding. I explained it to her the best I could and her guidance and recommendations on wedding themes, flower/​bouquet arrangements, cake selection, table setting were very helpful and insightful. In the end, I could not be more happy with how everything came together so beautifully on my wedding.
Not only was Anna well organized and creative, her ability to think on her feet truly shined through on the day of my wedding. We had a few glitches prior to my wedding, Anna got on the phone, made some arrangements, and magically everything was fixed. Her determination reassured me I was in good hands as I remained in good spirits mingling with family at my wedding.
Anna is truly passionate about her work and made sure all my needs were met. I am extremely happy with her services and have been recommending her to my friends since.

I was a bridesmaid for a wedding where Anna was hired to coordinate the full wedding. She was there every step of the way and provided us constant updates throughout the whole process. Thanks to her experience and connections we were able to get a beautiful venue. We were given many different options of vendors so we could choose which would go along with the theme of the wedding. She was able to get us quotes for services and it was great that she took away the stress of negotiating prices and she was always aware of our budget points. She paid close attention to detail and everything looked amazing from the centerpieces to the name cards.
On the day of the wedding, Anna arrived early to get situated with the schedule. She made sure the bride was very comfortable and at ease by taking care of everything so she had nothing to concentrate on except enjoying her moment and having fun with family and friends. If anything went wrong behind the scenes, she took care to not let it show and did everything to make the day go by smoothly. She was great with time management, she cued the bride and groom whenever they were needed, such as for cake cutting or speeches.
I’m am so happy Anna was there to help the bride out, I would have definitely had a panic attack if I had to deal with everything she did. I recommend her to all my engaged friends and I’m looking forward to the day I get engaged so I can call Anna to plan my special day as well!

We had Anna as our day-​of coordinator… but she was much more than that. She ensured we met up long before the wedding several times so that the day ran smoothly. I was convinced I didn’t need a day-​of coordinator — thank goodness I didn’t proceed with this conviction. Anna ensured everything went off without a hitch and my husband David and I didn’t have to give the details a second thought — we could just spend time with our family and friends and enjoy the magic of the day.
Anna is kind, organized, professional and a breeze to work with — and if you forgot anything, don’t worry, she will remember!
Thank you Anna — we are forever indebted to you.